DAMASCUS: Syrian state media has reported that Israel carried out a strike near the capital Damascus on Thursday.
Syria official news agency SANA reported that Syrian air defense are intercepting hostile targets in the vicinity of Damascus.
Israel rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria, but it has repeatedly said it will not allow arch-rival Iran, to expand its presence in the country. President Bashar Assad’s government enjoys the support of Iran.
Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in Syria since a civil war started in the country in 2011. Israel has been targeting Hezbollah as well as Syrian army positions.
Israel intensifies attacks in Syria
Israel has increased attacks since the war between Israel and Hamas started on October 7, as tensions rise across the Middle East.
Damascus international airport had been put out of service due to Israeli strikes in late November, just hours after flights resumed following similar attacks the previous month.
On December 25, Seyyed Razi Mousavi, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in Syria, was killed in the Israeli strike on the Zainabiyah district of Damascus.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi while extending his condolences over the killing of a senior commander said that Tel Aviv will definitely pay for this crime.
On December 2, the IRGC said Israel had killed two of its members in Syria, where the force said it had been on an advisory mission, without giving further details.
